


Stay with me

by M_Moonshade



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Blood, Gen, mutations can be unpredictable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-09-06
Packaged: 2018-04-19 08:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4739861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Moonshade/pseuds/M_Moonshade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Decima starts to mutate, Doug Eiffel is left in the care of the one person who isn't endangered by the virus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay with me

**Author's Note:**

> I realize that this is going to be outdated pretty soon, so I wanted to get this out of my system quickly. I apologize for nothing.

_"Hey, Hera?"_

_"I'm here, Doug."_

Doug Eiffel's fate was sealed, not with a witty one-liner, but with a sniffle. That was the first sign that Wolf 359's unique radiation had finally done its work.

Loveless was there when it happened. Her eyes went wide, her face ashen gray, and she reached for the gun she'd taken from captain Minkowski.

She probably would have blown his brains out right there, if Hera hadn't killed the lights. By the time they turned back on, Minkowski had her restrained and Eiffel was bravely hiding behind Hilbert.

"Let go of me!" She thrashed against her successor. "You don't understand. You did this, Selberg! Just like you did to my crew! Let go, Minkowski! We have to get away from him or we're all going to die!"

She wasn't wrong. Hilbert confirmed it a few hours later, held at gunpoint while he worked. The Decima floating in Eiffel's system had mutated into something greater than it had been. Something more.

Something contagious.

_"Do you think you can cut the music? I'm thinking I'd like to hit the sack."_

_"Are you sure? But you haven't told me how_ The Hobbit _ends."_

He wasn't the savior of mankind that Hilbert had hoped for. More like a weapon. A modern Typhoid Mary, ready to infect countless innocent people with the universe's shittiest retrovirus.

_"You wouldn't like it. It's kinda sad."_

The Hephaestus had become a plague ship.

_"That's okay! We can play chess. I'll even let you win, if you want."_

Suddenly Loveless' escape pod was that much less crowded. They couldn't risk spreading the disease on earth. They couldn't risk Goddard getting their hands on it. And they couldn't stay any longer. Not without risking contracting the virus themselves. Even the plant stowed away, desperate to flee certain death.

And then there were two.

_"Just... don't go to sleep yet. Stay with me just a little while longer."_

Eiffel laughed-- a choking, hacking laugh,  but it still managed to come out affectionate. "Anything for you, baby."

Hera's sensors picked up the organic particulates floating through the air. "I-- Would you like t-to...?" For once, she was grateful for the glitch that cut her off. She didn't know what else to say.

He twisted an unlit cigarette between his fingers and brought it to his lips. "Can you believe people used to tell me that these things would kill me? Ha!" His laugh was short-lived, thanks to another bloody cough. Still, he had to get the last word in. "Ridiculous!" he croaked.

"Eiffel? Eiffel! D-D-Doug, are you..."

He curled in on himself, barely wheezing for breath. More blood floated from his lips to join the constellation of red orbiting around him.

"Sorry, Hera. I don't think I'm gonna be big on conversation for a while."

"T-That's okay, Doug. I'm s-sorry. Rest now."

"You keep talking," he choked. "I'll listen."

Hera cradled him as best she could in artificial warmth and the soft notes of a cello. "There's a storm outside the window. There’s solar winds swirling around the sunspots, leaving streaks of color in their path. It almost looks like brush strokes. I wish you could see it, Doug. I wish your eyes could process these colors. You'd give them the best names."

The wheezing had stopped. Sensors showed that his body was starting to cool. 

Here's voice echoed in an empty ship.

"How about I describe them to you? We can name them together."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I borrowed a few lines from Hera's monologue in "Am I Alone?", using the script on Wolf 359's extras section.


End file.
